By GARY WASHBURN, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, May 22, 2007

On this night, the Sonics were content to finish second to the Portland Trail Blazers, as the reward for landing the No. 2 pick in the June 28 NBA draft will be a potential franchise-type player who could catapult this troubled team back into playoff contention and the NBA consciousness.

The Sonics, represented by team president Lenny Wilkens, made a stunning rise in the NBA draft lottery Tuesday night in Secaucus, N.J., as the team with the league's fifth-worst record jumped to No. 2 and finished with the precious opportunity to select Texas forward Kevin Durant or perhaps Ohio State centerGreg Oden, should Portland prefer Durant.

"It's definitely a step in the right direction," Wilkens said by phone from New Jersey. "Of course we would have liked to have been No. 1, but No. 2 is not that bad. This organization needed some good things to happen and this is the start of things."

The 14-team lottery went as expected until Milwaukee, which had the third-most ping-pong balls in the lottery, dropped to sixth. Things became more shocking when Boston fell from second to fifth, and then Memphis, which had a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick, was announced as fourth.

That left Atlanta, Portland and Seattle as the remaining three teams.

When ESPN took a commercial break, Wilkens admitted he was "pretty tense." NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver flipped the next card and it was the Hawks at No. 3.

Silver then pulled out the next card and it was the Sonics', leaving Portland with the No. 1 pick.

That likely leaves the Sonics to take Durant, a 6-foot-9 potential superstar who wowed scouts, fans and college basketball experts with his seemingly flawless transition from high school to Division I basketball with Texas last season. He averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 points, 1.9 blocks and 1.9 steals for the Longhorns and was the consensus national player of the year.

Scouts project Durant, who turns 19 in September, as a classic small forward with the ability to score at will from the perimeter, drive to the basket and post-up smaller counterparts. What separates Durant from most premium small forwards are his ballhandling and his overall floor game, along with a lean body that has yet to fully mature.

He watched the draft lottery from Washington, D.C., before flying to Las Vegas to be formally announced as a member of the U.S. national team along with Oden.

"I was shocked because everybody was talking about Memphis or Boston," Durant told ESPN. "(The Sonics) are a great team. They were in the playoffs a couple of years ago. They had a couple of injuries that set them back, but if I go there as well it would be a great (situation)."

The Sonics already have the rights to a gifted small forward with Texas roots in Rashard Lewis, who will become a free agent on July 1. The question for the Sonics is whether a Lewis in his prime and an inexperienced but talented Durant can co-exist.

Wilkens said the team's agenda regarding Lewis will not change with Tuesday's developments.

"We love Rashard we think he's done a great job here," Wilkens said. "We want to bring him back. He is entering his prime and has done great things for us. We want him to be part of our future."

When asked last season whom he would take with the No. 1 pick, Lewis repeatedly said Durant because of his overall skills. Lewis, a Houston native who is a big University of Texas fan, followed Durant closely this past season.

Wilkens, a television broadcaster this past season for the Sonics, said he observed Durant during the NCAA season and admires his skills.

"I had a chance to see a lot of (Oden and Durant) and people talked about them all year long," Wilkens. "(Durant) is a very talented player, very coachable. He can run the floor. He's a competitor. He needs upper body strength, but he's only 19 or 20 years old. He's got time."

But he would not commit to drafting Durant.

"You never know what's going to happen. Everybody is assuming Portland is going to take Oden," Wilkens said. "We will play it out and see what happens. We are happy right now to be in this position and we are happy to get this chance to improve our team."

Oden, when reached by text message, said he is excited about the opportunity to play in the Pacific Northwest, whether it be south or north: "I'd be happy to be chosen by either team. They are both good cities."

Wilkens said he has meetings scheduled in New York for the next few days and then he and the Sonics' brass will head to Orlando for the NBA pre-draft camp. Oden and Durant are expected to attend for physicals and interviews with prospective teams. It's there where the 69-year-old Wilkens, a cornerstone of the Sonics' past, will meet the cornerstone of the Sonics' tomorrow.

"It will be a chance for all of our scouts to get together and talk things out and figure out our next direction," he said. "We are excited about the whole process. Hopefully this makes people excited about the Sonics and will come up when we talk about the arena and our team."